A vehicle head unit may utilize a long range radio of a mobile device, such as a mobile phone carried in the vehicle, for the purposes of communications between the vehicle and the remote server associated with centralized management of motor vehicle software applications and services. While this enables the centralized management of the motor vehicle software applications and services without requiring a long range radio to be installed in the vehicle, today vehicle manufacturers may still be reliant on having a long range radio installed in the vehicle for other reasons, such as the upgrading of firmware of vehicle components (including but not limited to the Engine Control Unit (ECU) of the vehicle).
While it is possible to update firmware over a short range wireless connection or wire, the utilization of the short range wireless connection or wire may require delivery of the vehicle to a facility for the update over the short range wireless connection or wire (manual process may need to be performed by a person to update the ECU firmware at the facility). However, delivery of the vehicle to the facility is inconvenient, and for this and other reasons, today vehicle manufacturers may be dependent on having a long range radio installed in the vehicle to support their preferred firmware update procedures.